England have announced their playing XI for the third and final Test against Pakistan. The visitors have made two changes to their playing XI from the previous game leaving out pace bowlers Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts. With the pitch in Rawalpindi likely to be a turner, England have added Rehan Ahmed to their playing XI while Gus Atkinson also returns to the line-up after resting in Multan.
Pakistan made a stunning comeback in the second Test match winning by 152 runs. They levelled the three-match series with this victory. The hosts were severely criticised after becoming the first ever to lose a Test by an innings after scoring more than 500 runs in the first innings. But they came back well in the second Test to defeat the visitors.
England, on the other hand, will be keen on winning the series just like they did on their previous tour to Pakistan in 2022. They had beaten Pakistan 3-0 two years ago and have a chance of creating history with consecutive series wins in the country.
Coming back to the playing XI announced, this will be the first Test for Rehan Ahmed after last featuring against India earlier this year in Rajkot. He had picked three wickets in the game but struggled for consistency in his lines and lengths. Overall, Rehan has played four Tests and picked up 18 wickets. As for Atkinson, he played the first Test and accounted for four scalps before resting in the last game.
England playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith, Gus Atkinson, Rehan Ahmed, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir
Pakistan squad: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Aamer Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed, Noman Ali, Mir Hamza, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Mohammad Huraira
